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Media gives little play to Obama 2007 tape

By Mackenzie Weinger

10/03/12 02:20 PM EDT

News organizations have so far given little play to the newly surfaced videotape of President Barack Obama’s 2007 speech, proceeding cautiously as they seek to cover the hype surrounding the event while not fanning the flames of a video that may ultimately prove to be of little consequence.

The New York Times’ reported on the footage on its “The Caucus” blog in a post “Obama’s Wright Ties Highlighted Again.” The video’s release, the post stated, “was apparently an attempt to counter the recent video showing Mr. Romney characterizing ‘47 percent’ of the American public as dependent on government.” The video is also referenced on the Times’ “Media Decoder” blog and briefly details Tucker Carlson how defended the tape — which he reported on in 2007 — against claims it was an old story. The video, however, did not make it onto the front page of the Times’ print edition.

Over at The Washington Post — which also did not feature the tape on its front page — the footage made it onto the “Election 2012” blog. The blog post “Even Republicans unimpressed by Drudge video” stated the “much-hyped” video release “fell flat” and rounded up a number of lukewarm responses to the footage from GOPers senior Romney adviser Kevin Madden, 2008 Romney adviser Alex Castellanos, Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.), Fox News’ Greta van Susteren and National Review’s Jim Geraghty and RedState’s Erick Erickson.

The tape didn’t make it onto the front page of Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal, either, and a search yielded no mention of the tape.

CNN’s take on its “Political Ticker” blog, “Conservative media coordinates on release of old Obama video,” focused on the network’s coverage in 2007 — when segments aired on various shows including “The Situation Room” and “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” for example — and also featured some of the response to the “re-circulated version of the video” given by commentators and contributors on CNN Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg News reported the video “injected the issue of race into the campaign on the eve of the president’s first televised debate against challenger Mitt Romney.” The article noted that “supporters of both campaigns have mined old recordings to tarnish their rivals” and mentioned Mother Jones’s release of videos featuring Romney.

And at the Los Angeles Times, James Rainey wrote in his piece, “Obama video reveals everything … that we already knew,” that “conservatives have been desperately casting about for a ‘gotcha’ video to attack Obama since last month.” Other than the chance to “enjoy Obama’s over-the-top Sunday-goin’-ta-meetin’ stylings,” Rainey wrote, “the other ‘revelations’ will be mightily disappointing.” And like at The New York Times and The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times did not give space on its front page to the video.